MIYAGI : July 31, 2011 - The "SUGO GT 250km RACE," Round 4 of the 2011 AUTOBACS SUPER GT series, took place at Sportsland SUGO circuit (one lap: 3.704 km x 68 laps) in Miyagi Prefecture on July 31. In the GT500 class race the S Road MOLA GT-R driven by Masataka Yanagida and Ronnie Quintarelli, starting from pole position and running away to a perfect win without ever being threatened by the competition.

Unlike the Saturday qualifying that had been cursed by heavy rains, today's race was run under cloudy skies but free of rain. The race started at 14:00 with the air temperature at a cool 22 degrees C. for this time of year.
Having won pole position in yesterday's qualifying in the S Road MOLA GT-R, Ronnie Quintarelli started the race from the front of the first row and executed a good start. For Quintarelli, the conditions with a dry track and low track temperature where very different from the rainy conditions he had won the pole position in the day before. Nonetheless, he was able to pull away from the pack at a fierce pace.

After all the teams had finished their routine pit stops the S Road MOLA GT-R was more than 20 seconds ahead of the DENSO SARD SC430 running in 2nd place. At the wheel of the MOLA GT-R for the second stint, Masataka Yanagida ran on steadily without losing any of that margin. This perfect pole-to-checkered victory was the team's first win since moving up to the GT500 class. The victory also put the Yanagida/Quinarelli driver pair on top of the point ranking as the eight-race series moves into its second half.
For the Nissan GT-R this was the third win this season. For Yanagida, who was champion of the GT300 class last season, this is his first victory in the GT500 class.

In the GT300 class, the SG CHANGI IS350 driven by Ryo Orime and Alexandre Imperatori came from 3rd-position on the starting grid to give their team its first win. For the Lexus IS350 this is the third win, and the first since 2009, and for Imperatori it is his first win in SUPER GT competition.

Masataka Yanagida: "It has been a long road [to this first GT500]. Time and again we came close but couldn't win. I want to take this momentum and carry it on to the coming races. I want to say how grateful I am to Nissan and Nismo and all the fans for their support, and to the team and Quintarelli for creating an environment where we were able to win. I also want to say a word of thanks to Masahiro Hasemi, who was my mentor in GT300 until last year. In the race, Ronnie had built us up such a margin of lead that there wasn't much risk, so I just tried to keep concentrated on my driving. I would say that I was more nervous during yesterday's Super Lap, even though I was just watching. I am not going to let myself be satisfied with this win, because there is more to come and our ultimate goal is to win the series title."

Ronnie Quintarelli: "[Watching from the pit] the second half of the race was a very long. The car was in such good condition that I was able to push hard from the very first lap. I believe I was able to build up a good margin of lead and the pit stop and driver change went very well with no misses on the part of the team, and then Yanagida-san managed the machine well all the way to the checkered. I was very happy to see it all. During the race it was slippery on the last curve and I had one dangerous moment. But there was enough of a margin that I was able to take it easy and run a clever race. Since the Michelin tires are known for being good in hot conditions, I was a bit worried about today's cool temperatures, but once I started racing I found their performance was excellent. I am really grateful to Michelin for that."

Ryo Orime: "I'm happy and relieved at the same time. We hadn't been able to deliver good results thus far this season, and personally I was feeling a bit anxious. But we didn't let it defeat us and we kept meeting as a team and worked to improve the machine. This time we were able to show good speed from the qualifying and in the race Alex [Imperatori] gave a good performance. I think all of this is evidence of how hard we have worked. That is why I am so relieved with this result. It was a clean battle between me and Takagi in car No.43 and I think it must have been an enjoyable one to watch for the fans."

Alexandre Imperatori: "I feel very happy. We didn't have a good start to this season but I am happy to say that we got a very good result this weekend. This is my first season competing in SUPER GT and it took me a while to get used to this type of race. But SUPER GT has so many more spectators and fans than the other races I have participated in Europe and in Japanese Formula 3 Championship. That gives me great motivation. This atmosphere is the greatest and I am very happy to have been able to win here. I want to keep winning like this."